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Topic: Bottling with dry lager yeast (Read 1407 times)

I've been having issues with bottle carbonating my high alcohol beers recently, even at 70+ degree temps, over several weeks to months. I'm using what I've calculated to be enough cane sugar for the size of the batch to reach 2.5-3.0 Volumes CO2, depending on the batch, so I think my priming process is sound.

I'm considering buying some dry lager yeast, rehydrating a bit and adding it to the priming bucket with my sugar to aid carbonation. Should this be sufficient? Do I need to worry about the lager yeast eating more than just the priming sugar and therefore winding up with overcarbonated beers?

Also, I'm a tight wad and was wondering if there was a safe method of storing the extra dry yeast for another batch, if I only used half a package per 5 gallons at bottling. (Would this be enough in the first place?)

Finally, am I on the right track with dry lager yeast, or should I use dry ale yeast, make a small starter...?

If it's an ale, use an ale yeast to bottle. Some US-5 would be fine. I think 1/4 packet would be enough, but if it's high gravity you might want to go with a little more. Just rehydrate in a tiny bit of water (or not) and add it to the bottling bucket and rack the beer on top of it.

The amount of yeast in suspension may not be the issue. With a high gravity beer the issue might be the alcohol is killing the yeast, and might do the same with any new dry yeast that you add.

What is the ABV that you are trying to bottle condition? What is the alcohol tolerance of the yeast that you are using?

As for saving the remainder of the dry yeast packet. I have also wondered about doing this, but decided that the cost of a new packet was better than possibly infecting the next batch, so I've never tried it.

I've got a 10.1% Belgian Tripel brewed with a 3rd generation WLP575 Belgian Ale Yeast Blend (built up from a Wit and a Blond) that's been in bottles for about 4 months now. The first 2-3 months were above 70 degrees. This yeast was also repitched after the Tripel into a Belgian Dark Strong Ale, and it attenuated well. The alcohol tolerance is listed as Medium-High. That beer has been in a secondary for quite a while, sitting on figs, and that would be the one I'm most concerned with. The Rye Barleywine has been in bottles for 3 weeks and seems to be starting to show signs of life. That one is 9.5%.

Thomas Hardy's Ale (RIP) used a lager yeast for bottling, IIRC. Lager yeasts are cleaner and have better stability, so I don't see a problem with using it for bottling if that's what you have. It's not like it's going to impart a new character to the beer; the fermentation character is already present.